US Forest Service orders thousands of radios

The U. S. Forest Service has placed an order for $6.6 million worth of radios from RELM Wireless Corporation, also known as BK Radio. The order is for RELM’s D-Series digital P-25 portable and mobile radios which should be delivered in the first quarter of this year.

This could be an order for 4,000 to 6,000 radios. A typical RELM BK portable radio is their DPHX5102X P25 VHF Portable model (400 channels, 136-174 MHz, 5 watts; see photo at right). The retail street price of that unit is about $1,527 plus shipping and accessories, but there is no doubt that a $6.6 million order will produce per-unit prices much lower.

According to RELM, the USFS currently has about 57,000 RELM radios in service.